An intelligent and empowering guide toward increased self-determination within sexual relations.
Focusing on sex “that goes well for everyone.”
Kukla, a professor of philosophy and disability studies at Georgetown University, draws from discussions with fellow academics, sex workers, friends, and lovers to present an introspective and enlightening study of the dynamics of sexual consent. Frustrated with indifferent, academic explorations of bodily autonomy and sexual liberation, Kukla says their goal is to enhance our understanding of how “being able to have good sex enhances our agency” through beneficial communication and collaboration instead of homogeneously “flattening” sexual conversations. The author introduces interactive methods to have sex genuinely benefit each participant, and not solely as a means to avoid sexual discord or harm. Kukla writes with straightforward language, offering an array of often provocative short scenarios to illustrate their points. The author skillfully incorporates relatable terminology, like personal and social “scaffolding,” which, when established by a sexually active individual, provides a relationship framework with the good strength and stability it needs to make sex (of any style) mutually safe and satisfying. The framework may incorporate the use of safe words to corral personal intimacy limits and minimize risk or, more generally, highlight laws and policies meant to promote and protect individual sexual agency and ease of reporting violations and abusers. But the basis for all of these agency-promotive, sex-positive initiatives, Kukla acknowledges, begins with open, honest, and proactive communication. As a self-admitted participant and proponent of alternative sex communities, Kukla attended conventions and seminars where sexual negotiation was a key theme, and while they understand the constricting social norms prevalent around issues of sexual empowerment, consent, and lifestyles like sex work, each individual, the author says, is ultimately responsible for their own body and how it is governed and pleasured. Calling religious models of carnal abstention “intensely depressing,” Kukla instead offers constructive feedback and workarounds to reach the goal of sexual agency for each partner.
An intelligent and empowering guide toward increased self-determination within sexual relations.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781324064923
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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